Friday, July 10, 2009

"When it comes to putting new blood into a horror author of yore, few director-actor collaborators have made terrifying words cinematically relevant for a new generation of fear fans like Jeffrey Combs and Stuart Gordon. Indeed, H.P. Lovecraft would probably send salutations from his eldritch realm for the gorily stylish energy they injected into such adaptations of his work as RE-ANIMATOR, FROM BEYOND and CASTLE FREAK- films that created a new legion of Lovecraft admirers to hungrily seek out his printed work anew. Gordon, who got his start in avant-garde theater productions replete with nude Peter Pans and onstage torture, directed the wiry Combs to new realms of psychotic brilliance in these films, establishing the actor as an icon of mad science.

"But Gordon and Combs didn’t stop at Lovecraft, as the actor’s supporting role in his Poe-inspired PIT AND THE PENDULUM would ultimately lead to Combs playing the author himself for Gordon in “The Black Cat,” a MASTERS OF HORROR episode that twisted Poe’s real-life insanity into one of his most notorious stories. It’s no wonder that with their help, Poe has continued to conjure images of shackled corpses, ever-lowering blades and quothing ravens. Yet even Poe’s own fiction could hardly match the horrific travails of his own self-destructive life, where tragedy upon tragedy led the legendary author / poet / detective / critic to a grim fate.

"Now with a book by RE-ANIMATOR co-author Dennis Paoli, Jeffrey Combs and Stuart Gordon are summing up Poe’s brilliant madness into a one-man stage play called NEVERMORE: AN EVENING WITH EDGAR ALLEN POE that is anything but a typically genteel “evening with.” For what starts out as Poe reciting his poetry and fictional stories ends up in a painful, near-psychotic breakdown that reveals the madness and sorrowful humanity within an author few really know beyond a rep full of lies. And for Combs/Gordon fans who’ve thrilled to their notorious screen collaborations, it’s a rare chance to experience the same chills, and powerhouse performance in the flesh- an evening that both men have determined their audience won’t forget at the outré Steve Allen theater in Los Angeles..."

Check out If's exclusive interview with the two horror titans ... and more information about the play HERE.